honesty, it was hard to swallow. On the other hand, she wasn’t family. It wasn’t her job to tell me what was going on.
Exhausted from all my mental jumps and questioning, I headed toward the kitchen.
“Would you like something to drink? I don’t have much, some Coke or water, really.”
“No thanks. I won’t stay long.” She clasped her hands together and kicked off her heels before walking to the window where the lights of the city danced and shone as far as the eye could see. “Brandon and I have been together since our freshman year of college. Did you know that?”
I shook my head, curious where there this was going.
“I was with him two years before he told me how he was raised, and even now, I know I don’t everything.”
If she was trying to make a connection between being lied to and someone taking their time opening up, I wasn’t taking the bait.
“This situation is vastly different, and I know about his mom. Or at least how he came to the Valentines. Hudson told me.”
“To protect Brandon so he doesn’t have to explain.” She said it with a bite to her tone that made my hackles rise.
My lips twisted. I didn’t need the reminder of how saintly he was. Not from her. Not now.
“Listen—”
“I know.” She lifted her hands in apology and dropped them. “That wasn’t right to say, and I wasn’t trying to compare. I was just… I think, in a way, I understand why you’re guarded and don’t trust easily. And I know how all of this has shaken that already.” That time, she nailed it.
Hudson knew I didn’t trust. He knew why. I’d told him not to take advantage of my trust and he kept doing it.
Jenna sighed heavily. “I know that for Brandon, sometimes, he gets this far-off look in his eyes and he goes silent, like he’s in a different world. Usually, it happens when we’ve been around kids, out in public or wherever, but it hits him, how bad he had it, I think, and then how much changed for him. Sometimes, I think there is so much darkness, at least in him, it comes out in pieces and I sit around, waiting for crumbs. It’s not easy, I know. I mean, hell, we’ve been together for almost ten years and are just now getting married. Trust me, a man that damaged doesn’t commit or trust easily, I can guarantee that, and I see that in you. Without judgment,” she quickly added.
I stayed silent. I also tried to stay pissed but Jenna was making it hard to stay mad at her.
She stepped from the window and came to me, fluffing her hair in a nervous gesture so unlike her confident self my heart skipped a beat.
“Melissa made Hudson promise to help you. She said it was her dying wish. He refused, and I think stubbornly, he believed if he didn’t promise her, she’d live. Instead, he feels that guilt of denying his sister the only thing she asked for.”
I closed my eyes as the force of that rippled over me and I shivered. She’d asked for me. A lovely woman on her deathbed had pled for me. I couldn’t look Jenna in the eye after that and she gave me a moment to gather myself.
Melissa had begged them to help me. Did that make me feel better or worse than if I was some random girl David ran into at Judith’s?
But that was laughable. Because they knew. I didn’t doubt it now that somehow, David knew exactly where to find me when he wanted to.
My jaw tightened to stave off any more tears. I’d cried enough in the last twenty-four hours to fill a stadium. “It’s not so easy as that.”
Her look, full of compassion but not pity, softened. She held up a small white envelope, the kind invitations or thank you notes came in. “I know. Which is why I told David I’d stop by and slide this under your door. I wasn’t supposed to talk to you, but well, I don’t listen that well.” She shrugged, that same what are you going to do shrug she gave the first time I met her when she didn’t care one iota she was terrifying and overwhelming me. She flipped the envelope to the table. “Anyway. Here. Read it, or don’t. Meet him or don’t. Your call, but know I miss you. I really did enjoy getting to know you.”
“Even though you knew